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A Year to Turn the Tide
By Janan New
This year will mark my fifteenth as director of the San Francisco Apartment Association. The changes that have transpired during that time are truly mind-boggling. We have moved from a one-room office in the Financial District with three part-time employees to a beautiful, modern “built to suit” space near City Hall with four full-time staff. SF Apartment Magazine has grown from 20 pages to 80 pages. Fifteen years ago, we used to track one piece of legislation from City Hall during a year; now we are juggling many at the same time. Perhaps the most significant changes can be attributed to the use of technology. When I was first employed at the SFAA, there were no cell phones or email, and the fax machine had a continuous roll of paper. The rise of the internet can be linked to the increase in legislative and political activity. I no longer need to drive to City Hall to pick up a copy of a piece of legislation being debated by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
One would think that with the proliferation of legislation, membership involvement would have also increased. However, the opposite is true. It seems that the more new rules that City Hall creates, the more detached our members become. I remember the days when we could turn out hundreds at a rally and twenty-plus speakers for a hearing at City Hall. Now we don’t even bother with a rally, and we need to beg people to come to public hearings. Without our personal connections to draw upon, no one would show up at all. It is difficult for me to convince our elected officials that our industry cares about the laws they create if I have no one there to back me up.
The same trend applies to political action fundraising. When I started working at the SFAA, we were easily raising a million dollars for campaigns involving rent control and vacancy control. We founded well-funded campaigns filled with money and volunteers. This shifted in 1994, when we were only able to raise about $100,000 in our attempt to defeat Proposition I (the owner-occupied 2-4-unit rent control measure). We had fewer dollars and fewer volunteers, but we lost that campaign by a mere 1,000 votes. It has been downhill ever since.
Every year on your dues billing statement you have the option of donating to our SFAA-PAC (this political action committee contributes money to campaigns that affect the rental housing industry) or the SFAA Legal Fund (the account used for attorney fees in a broad litigation strategy that affects the entire rental housing industry). These bank accounts give us the power to create a joint fund to defend our industry so the burden does not fall on one owner to pay for us all. The decisions about how to distribute these funds are made by a committee appointed by the president of SFAA’s board of directors. These voluntary contributions are important to the health of the real-estate industry and property-rights retention in San Francisco and beyond. Please make these additional contributions when you send your check in to us. Legally, we cannot require you to pay these fees, but without your help we are unable to do the work we need to do to protect your ability to use your investment property. As the rally and speaker volunteers have dwindled, so have the contributions to both of these important funds.
The burnout that I perceive as part of the industry’s problem is truly justified. We have seen the attacks from the left prevail more than we would like. Plus, the complexity and sheer number of these new ordinances may breed confusion, followed by inaction. The good news is that in the coming new year we may have the ability to turn the tide. It all depends on each and every one of you. Money and volunteers will once again be the key to our success or failure.
There are three elections in 2008: the presidential primary election in February, the June election with the Howard Jarvis-initiated rent control phase-out measure and the November election where half of the Board of Supervisors’ seats turn over. We have already started to prepare for the political activity in the coming year and hope that you will stay involved with us.
Many of the political pundits have called the Jarvis initiative, entitled the California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act, dead on arrival in a state as liberal as California. The measure has not even qualified for the June 2008 ballot (as of this writing) and already individuals and organizations have started staking out territory, begging for cash donations and jockeying for positions on the political ladder. It is our board of directors’ belief that we should support the measure as a duty to our members who have suffered through some of the agonies of rent control. Although many of the polling numbers don’t look great, we need to roll up our sleeves and move forward in assisting with passage of this measure. Please remember to write your donation checks to an organization with credibility, one that you trust. Just think what life would be like if the measure passed: after your next vacancy, the unit would be permanently decontrolled.
In November 2008, the odd-numbered districts of the Board of Supervisors turn over. We believe that there is an opportunity to elect a few more moderate officials. Many of our more liberal supervisors were elected eight years ago due to a backlash vote against then-Mayor Willie Brown’s purported pro-development stance. Since that time, the city has moved to a ranked-choice voting system, which is bound to confuse many. Our board believes that if we stay focused on a few quality candidates and remain supportive of our friends, there is an opportunity to create a more business-friendly elected body. These races should really heat up around Labor Day this year.
Please take the time in the new year to get involved in government. Make your PAC and Legal Fund donations to SFAA, write or call members of the Board of Supervisors when requested, show up at one or two public hearings and offer to help those who are trying to help you. If we all pull forward together, 2008 could be the best year for rental housing owners since the defeat of vacancy control in 1991.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or SF Apartment Magazine. Janan New is the executive director of SFAA and can be reached at 415-255-2288. Copyright © 2008 by SF Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.